Wacky Wednesday Cat

IS THIS A REAL CAT?


~J&B

Tabby and Tortie Tuesday

I missed ManCat Monday--AGAIN! This time it was because Mom was with "Mr. Werk" until very late last night. We heard a rumor that Rosie and Cheeto's lady might be getting married to Mr. Werk, but it looks like he might be trying to put the moves on Mom. Dad will take care of him if he does that!

Here's a photo of me for Tabby Tuesday. Sometimes I like to sit at the top of the stairs like this and DARE Bathsheba to get past me. She does NOT like this game.

~Jake






And, for Tortie Tuesday, here I am checking out our new scratching post. I like it pretty well since I like the texture of that scratchy rope stuff. Unfortunately, Jake hogs this scratcher (like everything else) and puts his scent all over it. DaisyMae Maus might like that, but I don't. Now, if it were BUBBLES, I'd feel differently.

~Bathsheba

Bonnie's Meme - Jake's Turn

Now it's my turn! My Valentine DaisyMae Maus tagged me. (Thanks, DaisyMae.)

A. Name four places you have lived:
1. A townhouse in Centreville, VA where I was born.
2. My house with Mom and Dad.
3. The back deck of my house
4. That’s it! My life has been very stable.

B. Four things I love to watch
1. Birds
2. Squirrels
3. Butterflies in the summer
4. Mom when she's making food.

C. Four places I have been outside my home
1. In the yard and outside our fence!
2. The Vet
3. Grandma and Grandpa’s old house (where Mom grew up)
4. The nursing home where grandma is now.

D. Four websites I visit daily
1. DaisyMae Maus – she’s my lovely Valentine
2. Skeezix
3. Daisy the Curly Cat
4. As many cat blogs as I can

E. Four of my favorite foods.
1. Most flavors of Fancy Feast except some of the sliced varieties (though I will eat them all)
2. Temptations, of course! And I’ve started horning in on Mom’s bedtime Temptation ritual with Bathsheba. I can hear that nightstand drawer and the crinkle of the package from all over the house.
3. Bathsheba’s food or any other crunchy cat food
4. Chicken
Do I have to stop at four? I like SO MANY things.

F. Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Lying on Dad’s legs as he stretches out on the sofa.
2. Lying on my throne in the cat/computer room.
3. In the refrigerator – as long as the lunchmeat and cheese drawer were open.
4. In front of my dish filled with food.

G. Four toys I have owned and played with:
1. Fishing pole toy
2. Crinkle ball
3. Catnip mouse (I need a new one, Mom!)
4. Feathers on a wand.

H. Four nicknames people call me
1. Jakie Boy
2. Little Man (I want to be BIG Man, but that would be Dad.)
3. Jakula
4. “The Baby” (I HATE this. It’s just because I’m the youngest in the house.)

I. Regarding catnip:
***Love it***
It’s nice.
Could take it or leave it.
Don't like it or can't have it.

J. Regarding cat grass:
Love it
It’s nice.
Could take it or leave it
***Don't like it*** or can't have it. (I like the REAL stuff that grows outside, especially those tasty clumps at the edges of the lawn. The crop isn’t very good this time of year, though.)

K. First things I buy after winning the lottery:
1. This is too hard. I would have to let Mom and Dad advise me since I’ve never had any money.

L. Four things I do besides eat sleep and litter box:
1. Cruise the Jake Highway outside.
2. Keep my deck safe from pesky raccoons.
3. Intimidate Bathsheba with just a look or a little pounce on her back.
4. Hang out on the deck with Dad.

M. Four things I want to do this summer:
1. Catch a squirrel.
2. Take a nap in the cool shade of a bush.
3. Hang out on the deck.
4. Visit a certain someone in San Diego.

N. My four most prized possessions that have limited value to anyone else:
1. My dirty cat bed out on the deck. (I don’t like it as much when Mom washes the cover. I also think my scent keeps Bathsheba out of it.)
2. My crinkle ball.
3. My torn up purr pads.
4. My luxuriously soft fur coat.

O. What I am going to do before tomorrow is over:
1. Eat at least two square meals, plus whatever else I can scrounge up or beg.
2. Sleep on top of Dad’s long legs.
3. Bother ‘Sheba.
4. Let Mom kiss and cuddle me and give her some purrs.

P.Which of the following is your favorite place to hide and play:
***paper bags*** (I LOVE empty cat food bags.)
plastic bags
boxes (These are fun too, but I have to go with the paper.)
Other (explain)

Q. Four other pets that Momma has had with me
1. Bathsheba (ugh!)
2. Wonderful Precious, a Maine coon
3. Zoe, Mom’s sister’s cat, who lived with us for a few weeks. She pretty much stayed in one room and didn’t bother us.
4. That’s it!

R. Four furiends I tag to respond:

Bubbles
Cocoa
George of The Crew
Catzee

Bathsheba was right. That was exhausting!

~Jake

Bonnie's Meme - Bathsheba

Rocky tagged me to participate in Bonnie's meme. Here are my answers:

A) Four places I have lived:

1. Under a porch at a farm house in Fairfax that was totally encroached on by suburbia.
2. Here in my house in Manassas, VA.
3. On the back deck of my house in Manassas.
4. In a place or places when I ran away two different times. It's a secret so I won't tell here either. I only ran away for a couple of weeks in the summertime.

B) Four things I love to watch:

1. Birds
2. Squirrels
3. Jake, but not because I LOVE to, but because I HAVE TO so he doesn't pounce on me.

4. Mom, when she dishes out my meals.

C) Four places I have been outside my home:

1. The woods behind our house.

2. The Vet where I have THREE STARS on my file because I am so ferocious.
3. The house where my grandma and grandpa used to live.

4. Around my neighborhood.

D) Four websites I visit daily:

1. Yahoo for my email.

2. Skeezix (of course!)

3. Bubbles and Mrs. B (Bubbles is my Valentine.)

4. As many of the jillions of great cat blogging sites as time and my secretary will let me.

E) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Science Diet Senior (I don't like Stinky Goodness.)

2. Temptations (any flavor).
3. Milk (Mom gives me a tiny taste every time she pours a glass for herself.)
4. Cheddar or Monterey Jack Cheese (but NOT Swiss).

F) Four places I would rather be right now:

1. On Mom's bed.
2. On my kitchen chair with the comfy pad.

3. In the bathroom sink getting a nice drink of water from the faucet.

4. Just hanging out with Mom.

G) Four toys I have owned and played with:
1.Dangly strings.

2. Handmade crocheted catnip mouse (hey, Mom, maybe it's time to make more; it's been ages since that one!)

3. Bottletop caps - great hockey pucks.

4. Aluminum foil balls (but that was also a long time ago).

H) Four nicknames my staff have tried to assign me:

1. Sheba

2. Sheebie
3. Shebola

4. Badsheba (I don't like this one, but the others are okay.)

H) Regarding Catnip:
***Love it***
It's nice
Could take it or leave it
Don't like it or can't have it

J) Regarding Cat Grass:
Love it
It's nice
Could take it or leave it
Don't like it or can't have it (I'll occasionally nibble REAL grass that grows outside.)

K) First four things I'd buy after winning the lottery:
1. A new home for Jake - far from me!
2. A giant greenhouse so I can pretend I'm out in the garden even in the wintertime.
3. Whatever Mom wants because I love her very much.

4. ??

L) Four things I do besides eat, sleep, and litterbox:
1. Blog
2. Smack and hiss at Jake (Bonnie and I view our brothers the same way.)

3. Drink from the bathroom sink (Here Bonnie and I are also the same!).

4. Hang out with Mom.

M) Four things I want to do this summer:
1. Sleep in the sun out by the bushes.

2. Sleep in the shade out in the bushes.

3. Catch a wild animal. (I was quite the hunter when I was much younger.)
4. Help Mom in the garden.

N) My four most prized possessions that have limited value to anyone else:
1. My bottle caps.

2. My strings.

3. My extra toes.
4. My tortie and white fur coat.

O) What I’m going to do before tomorrow is over:
1.Eat crunchies for breakfast and dinner.
2. Hiss at Jake.
3. Greet Mom when she comes home from work late. (She has a long meeting tomorrow so she'll be late.)
4. Eat Temptations. (Mom has created a bedtime ritual of Temptations. She keeps them in her nightstand drawer.)

P) Which of the following is your favorite place to hide and play?
Paper bags
Plastic bags
**Boxes**
Other (please describe)

Q) Four other "pets" your staff have kept with you:
1. Jake, unfortunately for me

2. Precious, a wonderful Maine Coon kitty

3. Catarina, Jake's Mom, who stayed here a few weeks while we helped find her a home and before we knew she was pregnant.

4. Zoe, Mom's sister's cat, when she was between houses.

R) Four furiends I tag to respond:

I think just about everyone has been tagged, but, if not, we'll include the all-purpose:

Anyone else who wants to play!

Whew! This was long and exhausting! I need a nap.

~Bathsheba

Jake's Mr. Litterbox Entry

I REALLY wanted to enter Zeus's Mr. Litterbox competition, but I wasn't sure if I could qualify. I don't have any evening wear since I wear the same fur coat everywhere. (And my secretary, Mom, doesn't have Photoshop. Sigh.) As for strength and form, I wasn't sure how to depict that. My greatest talent is getting Mom and Dad to serve my every need. However, I am pretty good with a crinkle ball,and I thought that this could also serve as a talent.
Talent Entry:

Here I caught a crinkle ball that Mom threw to me. She also thinks it's a talent to sit up on two legs like a human, but I hope you cats don't deduct points for that!

I know the competition is fierce, but it's fun just to participate.

~Jake

You Be the Judge!

There was a lonely leftover homemade biscuit on the table last night. Mom neglected to wrap it up and put it away after dinner. This morning it looked like this:



The top half was eaten and there were crumbs all over the placemat.















So, it's up to our friends to decide who is the guilty party.




Is it cute little Jake? (I'm INNOCENT, I tell you! ~Jake)



(Yeah, give us the old eye squeeze to try to disarm the jurors, Jake! ~Bathsheba)


Or shy little Bathsheba?



(I don't do such things! ~Bathsheba)



(I think she looks ashamed. ~Jake)









Submit your vote in the comments section to determine the culprit and to see justice served.

~J&B

Combined Tabby Tuesday/Wacky Wednesday

Someone sent Mom an email with a bunch of "cute animal" photos that were going around the internet. This was one of them. Do you think it's you-know-who? It sure looks like him, but this photo doesn't look like it was taken at our house. Do you think he goes to the neighbors for such a disgusting and perverted act? It makes me sick just thinking about it.

~Bathsheba



It is NOT ME! I swear! Someone is trying to frame me!

~Jake

Jake's Man Cat Monday

It's time for Man Cat Monday, and FINALLY, I can participate. My secretary had computer problems for a while, but now she can display me in all my manliness. Here I am in my cat TV room. I know that it's not particularly manly to watch daytime TV, but I don't get a very good picture on my big screen TV at night.

~Jake

Hanging Out with Mom

Weekends can be great for relaxing and hanging out with Mom. The weather has been bitter cold lately so Mom and I prefer to just cozy up inside on the bed. Jake knows that this is my domain so he doesn't bother us. Life is good . . . .

~Bathsheba

Late Thursday Thirteen

13 Reasons We Need a New Secretary

We love Mom, but we need a new secretary because:

1. Mom isn't available when we need her. Like just last night, when we wanted to visit our friends and Valentines DaisyMae Maus and Bubbles, she and Dad were busy.
2. Mom censors, er, edits our dictation.
3. Mom spells funny.
4. Mom doesn't know HTML code.
5. Mom can't seem to put badges and photos on the right side of our blog.
6. Our blog posts are always too late. How can you post a Thursday 13 post past 11:30 p.m?
7. A new secretary would have her own computer so we wouldn't have to share a computer with Mom and Dad.
8. A new secretary would have Photoshop so we could post better quality photos.
9. A new secretary would not have another job and would be available early in the morning to help us visit early bird friends.
10. A new secretary could search the 'net and find interesting tidbits of information for us to share with our friends.
11. A new secretary would know how to make movies of us and post them on YouTube.
12. A new secretary would clean up the messy papers in the computer room.
13. We could have Mom for more snuggles and playing if we freed her from having to blog with us at night.

~J&B

Then I Saw Her Face

Here's the photo that inspired Bubbles' Valentine video.

And here's one where I look a little more demure.

Happy Valentine's Day, Bubbles.

Love,

~Bathsheba

And a Happy Valentine's Day to DaisyMae Maus. I would share my throne with you.

Love,

~Jake

Tails for Tuesday

Hooray! It looks like we can post photos again! Mom isn't sure what she did to make it work, but who can argue with success?

~Jake

100th Post Contest Winner

Yesterday's post was #100 for us! And, as we mentioned here, we had a contest of sorts. We said that we would award a Petsmart (or other national chain) gift certificate and a donation to the charity of choice to the first cat to comment on our (unidentified) 100th post. The winner is Tara, Princess Meezer! In fact, she had the first TWO comments on that post. Congratulations! Tara, please write to us at jakeandbathshebaATyahooDOTcom to claim your prizes.

Tara is going to her mountain house soon and is brushing up on her coyote-fighting skills. Tara's Mom will be in our area shortly after Tara's trip to the mountain house. She hopes that it won't be so cold by then. We hope so too, for her sake, but our Mom is still hoping for a major snowstorm this winter.

Mom still hasn't figured out how to post photos again on our blog, and we're increasingly frustrated. It's something associated with some McAfee security upgrades Dad did to our home computer about the same time as Mom had to move us to new blogger. Unfortunately, Mom can't blog from her office, even after hours, because it is expressly against policy, so we're stuck with this computer. If we have to rely on our wit rather than our good looks, then this blog is in trouble.

~J&B

Vote for Bubbles and Bathsheba

Bubbles' great video Valentine to me is a finalist in Skeezix's Valentine's Day contest! It's both touching and funny! You'll laugh, you'll cry! You've just gotta watch it! And vote by midnight PST Monday, February 12! Hurry, time is running out.

~Bathsheba

Even I endorse this Valentine, so vote now! There may be no living with 'Sheba if her boyfriend's Valentine does not win. In that case, I may have to teleport over to San Diego permanently for the warmth and understanding of my lovely DaisyMae Maus. Vote for Bubble's Valentine for peace in my Virginia home.

~Jake

A Dusting of Snow

Brrr. It's been bitter cold lately, and last night we got a little snow. It was barely a dusting, but the schools around here closed anyway. You cats from the north may not understand this, but in the Washington, D.C. area, the joke is that schools close when there's a flake of snow. Like last week, Mom tried to get a photo of me in the snow, but I had already done my business before she came after me with her camera. She had to content herself with taking a picture of my pawprints. Once again, her camera has the wrong date, because she took the pictures TODAY.





It was much more comfortable to just look at the white fluff from the back of the chair in the living room.

Mom is disappointed that there isn't enough snow for cross country skiing in the battlefield park. It was warm for so long this winter, and now when it's finally cold, the air is too dry to produce much snow. Whenever there's too much snow, I don't like to leave my deck, and I do my business by spraying the grill cover. Dad doesn't like that!

I'm still looking for my special Valentine. We're having computer problems at home so Mom is using one elsewhere just for now. That probably means that I won't be able to post a Valentine in the contest by tomorrow evening. Some nice lady cats indicated some interest in me! DaisyMae Maus seemed to flirt with me, but I think she prefers Rocky. She is about the right age, though.

Stay warm, you cute kitties.

Love,

~Jake

P.S. Today was our Grandpa's birthday. He died nearly 10 years ago, but we all still miss him. He really loved kitties, especially his Siamese cat Marcellus followed by Toby, another Siamese. We're thinking of you, Grandpa.

~J&B

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

Beautiful spicy vixen DaisyMae is my Valentine! I am the luckiest cat! Maybe I can escape the cold by teleporting over to San Diego!

~Jake

No, I am the luckiest! Bubbles picked me! And he produced the greatest Valentine video. It was both funny and romantic. I was embarrassed by the hula costume when Mom dressed me in it for Halloween, but Bubbles must have liked it.

~Bathsheba

Valentines

With Valentine's Day coming up, do any of you cats have any advice for me? At 15, I'm a bit too old for a lot of the hot Big Man Cats even though I participate in harems (like Chase's Charmers). I don't want anybody to accuse me of "robbing the cradle," whatever that expression means, but I wouldn't mind having a special Valentine.

With this post, I've just been switched over to New Blogger. I've looked back at my posts and now many of my comments have turned anonymous. I heard that this happened to other cats out there (Rosie and Cheeto?), but I'm not sure how it was resolved. Can anyone help? I checked Skeezix's help blog, but the answer didn't seem to apply. PLEASE SIGN YOUR COMMENTS FOR THE TIME BEING.

Also, for some reason, my "add image" button is not working so I have to cut the part of this post that I planned to have next to a photograph. Rats!

~Bathsheba


Technical difficulties aside, would any of you attractive single lady cats like to be the Valentine of this 12-year-old Tabby?

~Jake

Appreciation

This is Jake and Bathsheba’s Mom, and I want to thank Jake for his recent assistance.

I have been a member of Toastmasters for a couple of years now. I’m part of a wonderfully diverse club that meets where I work. For those of you who have never heard of it, let me explain that it is a public speaking organization. I am terrified of public speaking and believed that this fear was holding me back professionally. I knew that public speaking was something I needed to improve, and I decided that it was time to set out to work on it.

Just a few days ago, I was scheduled to deliver a speech incorporating “vocal variety.” I toyed with a couple of topics, but none really embodied the speech objective. Taking Jake to the vet last Saturday and helping him write about it on his blog gave me an idea: have JAKE deliver the speech and tell about the vet experience from his perspective. Jake was a lifesaver. He presented a very entertaining and humorous seven-minute speech. I was nervous as a cat before he gave the speech, but he went all out during the presentation. Thank you, Jake, for developing a cute and clever speech, and thank you even more for delivering it for me!

Public speaking will never come naturally to me, and I will always be nervous, but I do see
progress!

~J&B's Mom


EXTRA! EXTRA! A Contest of Sorts!

We are quickly approaching the milestone of our 100th post. Rather than a "guess the date" contest, we decided that we will award the first cat to comment on that post with two prizes: a gift certificate to Petsmart, or other national chain, and a donation to the charity of that cat's choice.

We enjoy doing this blog, but we know that we cannot aspire to be in the top tier of cat blogs. We appreciate our regular corps of visitors, and we love to visit as many cat blogs as we can, but it is very time-consuming. Mom has a demanding full-time job and sleep is becoming a precious commodity. We marvel at those of you like Skeezix, Daisy, Lux, Dragonheart, and others who post daily on such creative, interesting, and technogically innovative blogs. How do you do it?

~J&B